All language subtitles for My.Cat.from.Hell.S10E08

He's our baby, but he's a bully.

We just heard a hiss. Yeah.

What is it that you're doing?

We could be dealing with territorial
aggression.

What are you doing?

Looks sexual to me.

Daisy's causing Cooper a lot of stress.

She would push him out of the way and
finish his...

He's afraid of her. Cooper just recently
got diagnosed with early kidney

disease. In like two years, he went from
11 pounds, 6 ounces to 8 pounds.

Is he eating?

No.

This looks like fun.

That's Max, I assume. That is Max. It's
hard to miss him. Max is part of the

reading program at the Lake Bluff
Library.

The goal of this program is to encourage
kids to read and also encourage kids

that might struggle reading.

Whoa!

Holy! I'm Jackson Galaxy.

What the hell, man?

The animal behavior that guardians call
when they're dealing with a difficult

cat. Sometimes I wish that I didn't have
her.

Damn.

I'm out to prove that there is no such
thing as a bad cat. Just a cat that

my help. This is fun.

I'm John. This is my wife, Mary.

We have four resident cats.

Baby, Lily, Mabel, and Ginger.

Also, we have foster kittens, and we
have one long -term foster.

Great.

Baby is a sweetheart.

He's just friendly.

He greets you. He's very affectionate.
He's our baby, but he's a bully.

Baby usually never attacks.

The cat's right in front of us. It's
something that we hear, and then we

to it.

Baby, what did you do?

We have done things like isolating,
keeping one cat in one room.

We also put a bell on his collar.

For a little while, we thought that was
working, but not so much.

Baby has a fixation on our adult female
cats.

Once they're about a year old, he starts
chasing them.

laying on them, biting them, hurting
them.

I've always said it's sexual.

It looks sexual to me.

What are you doing?

It's not fair for the other cats. You
know, we're kind of putting them in that

situation, and I think it's not a good
life in that sense.

She's afraid of you.

My biggest fear is this long -term
foster that we have, Grace. She has

needs, and we need to keep her until
she's about a year old, which is about

age that he starts attacking our other
cats.

If Grace gets hurt, we won't be able to
forgive ourselves.

If Jackson can't help us, we just don't
know what to do because there's just too

much abuse and suffering going on with
these cats.

Hi. Hi. How are you? I'm Jackson.

John. Nice to meet you. I'm Mary.

Mary, good to meet you guys.

I know we've got cat problems.

Yes, we do. We've got multiple cats.

Yes. And I also know we've got kittens
in the house somewhere.

You're fostering, right? We are. We're
fostering. Do you foster all the time?

Yeah, it's like a little revolving
kitten door. And Baby is preying on the

kittens? No. We've seen so many kittens
come in and out of our house, and Baby's

reaction, he could care less, that we
feel very comfortable having kittens

around. Now, I don't see Baby.

With that said, baby not being here, can
we go hang with kittens? Yes. I would

love to see some kittens. There's
nothing wrong in my line of work with

business and pleasure. So I'm here to
help baby, here to help John and Mary.

also here to get a kitten fix.

Kitten land.

Hello, my little one.

This one is just calling my name, so I'm
just going to hang here. He was brought

in a couple of weeks ago.

He was such a little baby that they put
her in a kennel with another.

full -grown cat, and she tried to nurse
off of the cat.

And somebody wanted to adopt her, but
she just wasn't old enough, so she

a foster.

I started fostering maybe a year and a
half or two years ago. For me to go into

a shelter and see little baby kittens
that need a foster or the worst might

happen, I was very quick to volunteer to
foster.

So I think we've had about 30 kittens
come through our house and find homes.

Let's unfortunately start talking about
the trouble in paradise here.

In your opinion, it has nothing to do
with the fact that you've got six little

kittens right now?

So is this as many as you would get at
one time? We don't like to do more than

five or six. We like to do really two or
three at a time. Right.

So knowing that you have five or six in
the house, his behavior hasn't changed

at all? No. Baby, you can't get into the
kitten room. Okay.

Usually foster kittens that are too
young to be vaccinated are kept

from the older cats to help protect
their sensitive immune systems. In this

case, it's also keeping them safe from
baby, which is such a relief.

The first glimpse that things were
not... All good with baby was when?

When Lily became about a year old, he
started chasing her and putting all his

weight on her and biting her neck.

Did he follow through from there? Did he
hump her? No, he didn't know what to

do. He would just jump on her, lay down
on her, and bite her neck. And she would

just be helpless because she was about
half the size of him.

Do you usually have to come break it up?

We'll run towards the spot where we hear
it.

He automatically kind of like knows, and
you'll see him just kind of run by us.

If we ever get close enough, we're
yelling on the way there. We're like,

baby, you know, as we're walking towards
him.

So I haven't even gotten close to, you
know, him still actually doing it. I've

seen it when they didn't know I was
there.

We hear it. We don't see it. So we don't
really know what's going on. He started

doing it to Mabel once she grew up. And
now we have Grace.

Grace is our long -term foster.

She was thrown from a moving car, and
she can't run very well, and she can't

jump very well, and she can't see very
well.

She's about seven months old, so she's
going to be of age soon where Baby

preying on her. That's where we draw the
line, and that's why we called you.

Baby hasn't gone for her yet. He hasn't.
If he does, we have a big problem. We

have a big problem. Huge, huge problem.
She can't get away.

There's clearly a reason that Baby goes
after Kat.

Okay, and he's not going after kittens,
okay.

But it's not like he's sitting there
waiting for their first birthday to

on them.

Something else has to be at play here.

Normally, with mounting behavior, it's a
pseudo -sexual behavior, but obviously

he's neutered, right?

Yes. How old was he when he got
neutered, normally?

He was about four or five months.

Okay, so that knocks that out.

But there's always a chance that maybe
he could be...

Crypt orchid. Crypt orchid is that one
of his testicles never descended. He may

have a testicle up in his abdomen, so
he's going to act like an intact male

because he still possibly has some trace
of hormones going through his system.

And that's something that only a vet can
tell us. So if I didn't show up here,

what would that look like? If he started
to prey on Grace, what happens?

My heart would be broken if he did
anything to hurt her. I mean, she can't

defend herself.

For a baby to do anything to raise. I
think it would have been, you would have

had to give her to somebody else. It
would have been forced, basically, that.

Give him or give her? No, give her.

Who goes to another home?

Well, you know, a friend of mine loves
babies.

She's our pet sitter, and she's thinking
about adopting a cat. I think, well,

maybe that's the solution is giving my
friend a baby. I think that would be

something we would consider.

What's your reaction to that? I mean.

What would it mean if you had to get
baby rehomed?

I mean... For

me, it's not a

good solution.

It's not something that I would be
interested in doing.

I don't know if we're dealing with
aggression that's bad enough that we

think about rehoming a cat, but I know
that Mary's thinking about it and John

has thought about it, so it has to be
that bad. I think it's time to leave

kitten land for the time being and go
and say hi to the rest of the cats in

house, okay?

Let's go.

Hello, baby boy.

Hello, baby boy.

Baby's just sitting there in the middle
of everything.

Hello, my friend.

He takes all the petting I can dish out.
He doesn't seem to be getting

overstimulated. He seems to be a very
social cat.

Very, yeah.

He's a very social boy. He loves being
the center of attention, but not seeing

any signs of territorial insecurity from
him. It is a weird dichotomy that you

have this absolute sweetheart who then
turns into making

everyone's life miserable.

John and Mary don't have all the facts.

when it comes to baby and his attacks,
and I haven't seen any of the bad

behavior myself, so I really need to
gather more clues so I can get to the

of the problem.

So, guys, we didn't see the other four
cats in this house. I only saw one cat.

Yeah, they tended to hide in the
bathroom or in the closet because of

That's obviously not healthy for
anybody, right?

I also think there's a lot of
assumptions being made without proper

evidence.

I can't offer up a behavioral diagnosis
right now because I haven't seen cats

together, so I can gauge their behavior
around one another. So I need to draw

out information, and that's going to be
their homework. With baby, we could be

dealing with play aggression.

We could be dealing with territorial
aggression.

There's a lot we don't know. This leads
me to the homework.

Detective work.

I'm going to leave you with some
cameras.

And we are going to see the comings and
goings. Having video surveillance is

going to get me all the information I
need visually.

The second part of this homework is
going to the vet.

I'd like your vet to check for
testosterone levels in the blood. Any

testosterone is going to tell us
something. I'm secretly excited that it

be that easy, that we take the baby to
the vet, have a blood test, get an exam,

and we find out that's the situation,
but not getting our hopes up.

Goodbye, buddy boy. We will be talking
very soon.

I'm going to bank on it. Bye.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kira. I have two cats,
Cooper and Daisy. Cooper and Daisy are

litter mates. When they were little,
they would sleep in a big pile, like a

kitten pile, and it was amazing.

Now, they seem to not get along.

A couple months ago, Cooper was
diagnosed with early -stage kidney

for some reason.

Daisy's become a real bully.

She would push him out of the way and
finish his food.

Daisy, no.

She picks on Cooper.

She will take a swipe at him as she
walks by, and he's afraid of her.

It's not just the fighting thing. I also
love to destroy my furniture.

Curtains shredded, throw pillows
shredded, sofa clawed, box spring

anything.

Fabric, they ripped to shreds. It is
completely frustrating.

This is my brand new sofa, and this, you
can see, are little cat claw marks.

It's already being scratched.

Right now, I keep the cats in the back
half of the apartment just to contain

destruction on the sofa.

Daisy!

I really need Jackson's help because I
don't want to lock them in the back half

of an apartment.

I want to do everything in my power for
my cats to have the best life possible.

I'm at a loss because I don't know how
to solve it. I don't know what to do.

Hey. Hi. How are you, Jackson?

Kira. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you
as well.

So we got two cats. Yes, Cooper and
Daisy.

Cooper just recently got diagnosed with
early kidney disease.

So in like two years, he went from 11
pounds, six ounces to eight pounds, four

ounces. I put him on renal care cat
food. And as the weeks went on, he was

eating less and less and not drinking
water at all. I feed them separately.

Daisy's always been a voracious eater.

So she eats really, really quickly and
then eats Cooper's food.

Cooper eats in the bedroom. Daisy
gobbles her food down instantaneously

screams outside the bedroom door.

And I think he's really stressed out by
her scratching and yelling at the door.

And does that lead him to not eat?

Yes. Okay, so that's going on. Has their
relationship changed because of all

this? Yes.

She bullies him.

But they never did that before?

No, they used to actually sleep
together, you know, in a cuddle. Well,

That's Daisy.

Where is Cooper right now?

He's probably in the bedroom.

Okay. And that's so abnormal.

That's not him?

No. He went from, like, gregarious and
friendly to sleeping, and he just

seem happy.

So you can trace his decline in
sociability to his disease.

I think so.

Yeah. Cooper might have been a social
cat at one point, but the bottom line is

not feeling well is going to cause you
to withdraw.

The other problem is my cats scratch all
my furniture.

I used to have a fabric sofa, and within
two months, the wood frame and the

stuffing's out. This is new furniture
now.

Yes.

Well, how brave of you. I know. You had
a fabric couch that got beat up in terms

of scratching, and you went out and got
yourself a...

Nice looking, leathery looking couch.

Well, I work in interior design. I'm
just not ready to give up on living in a

nice space.

And then they started in on it. So I
shut that door and they're locked in the

back half of the apartment.

They don't have access to this? That's a
good chunk of house that they don't

have access to. They have scratching
posts.

Where? In the bedroom.

I understand Kira's frustration.

I mean, if my job was an interior
designer and all the furniture I had in

house was being completely torn to
shreds, yeah, I'd be a little

too. That said, let's go find Cooper.
Okay. Let's go see what he's up to. Now,

one thing says I have a cat, and locking
your cats out of half of the house

because of your couch, that is the
definition of an unsustainable long

solution. So he has lost two -plus
pounds. He still looks good.

Cooper's normal weight for seven years
was 11 pounds, 6 ounces, and he weighs

8 pounds, 5 ounces now.

Oh, he's pretty dehydrated.

Do you know how to judge for that?

No. So to test for dehydration, all you
have to do, take a little piece of

scruff and then let go of it. And you
see how it doesn't just snap back?

See, it does that. That lets you know
that he's dehydrated a little bit.

Now, look.

Kidney disease is not something that's
reversible.

It's totally manageable.

I've had one cat. I've been managing it
for over 10 years.

The problem is that cats get over 80 %
of their hydration through their food.

So if he's not eating enough, he's going
to stay dehydrated.

needs to get food in him to keep his
weight up, but that also gives him his

hydration, which will also make sure
that he's got water going through his

system, which will address the renal
failure. I want to go through your

ritual with these guys.

Let's feed Daisy, let's feed Cooper, and
let me see what happens, all right?

Okay. It's not Cooper's renal diagnosis
that changed everything in his house. It

was the prescription diet.

Now he has to eat separately from his
sister. Now he's not eating the way he

used to. He's losing. weight and he's
getting dehydrated in the process.

the problem here.

Come on.

Coop. I hear cajoling. You gotta eat a
little bit.

You gotta eat.

How's it going in there, Kira? Is he
eating?

No. Is he even going near it?

No.

Now what do we do?

So sure enough, Daisy scarfs that food
down. It is gone before you can say

Cooper.

Daisy rushes that door. She's pawing
underneath.

She's making that rattling sound. And I
can imagine, it's not a really relaxing

meal, is it?

Wow.

Whoa.

Okay, then.

You've got to put yourself in Cooper's
paws right now. He's being separated

the rest of the family with a bowl of
food that he doesn't like. He's got Kira

hovering over the top of him saying,
please eat. He's got Daisy at the door.

The energy in the home has completely
shifted. The relationships in the home

completely shifted. This crazy dance
that's going on around food, it's got to

stop now.

Hey. So, Daisy did exactly what... We
thought Daisy would do. Yes. She gobbled

down her food and went for the second
course, which she couldn't get to. So on

your side of the door, what was going
on? Not a bite.

Not a bite.

Watched the door the whole time. Which
we cannot have.

He's got to.

get water in them, you've got to eat.

Kira's intentions are good, but what
she's doing is that classic case of

your finger in the leaky wall. Now
you've got this leak and this leak.

going to run out of fingers eventually.

We've got to talk about real problem
solving here. Ready for some homework?

I am.

Good. We've got a couple things that
we're dealing with. This is the thing

chronic renal failure in cats.

Everyone has an opinion about it. I'm
going to give you my opinion, and that's

all it is. It's based on my experience
and what I know about it. Your first

piece of homework is... I want you to
feed your cats a wet, grain -free diet.

believe in a high -protein diet, whether
they're thick or well. And I don't see

any reason to go away from that.

I'm a big fan of raw food. I think the
cats should be eating exactly what they

would be eating out there. And if they
were eating what they were meant to eat,

they wouldn't develop half of these
problems.

Of course, genetics plays a part in
this.

The number one thing that you have to be
concerned about with your cat is water

going through his body at all times.
Chronic renal failure cats need a

flow of water through their system.

I want you to take hot water, mix it in
with your food, and make it into almost

a stew.

That will unlock the smell. It'll be
attractive to him and to her, but that

you make sure they're getting that water
as well.

Now, the reason these two cats are being
separated in the first place that

started this whole crazy routine was
because Cooper gets his prescription

so the cats are on two separate diets.
It's my opinion that doesn't have to

happen anymore. I believe it's okay to
be fed the same food as long as it

achieves the ends that we need.

I want you to find out everything that
you can find out about chronic renal

failure, about how to combat it in order
to give him a longer life, which I

think would be really good for you.

Now we can start breaking down the dance
to be separated, to have doors closed,

and to have youths dressing over the top
of it. So go back to eating at the same

time. With the addition of this, I want
you to get what's called a slow feeder

bowl. You basically paste the food to
these ridges. They have to work at it.

It's going to slow down Daisy in a big
way.

That's going to completely reduce the
friction between your two cats.

This isn't a territorial battle. This
is...

One cat being really hungry, really food
motivated. The other one being a little

distracted, a little scared by what's
going on. All that stress, that's

them to go off on each other a little
bit. That'll stop.

Great. Now, scratching.

You're an interior designer, so I think
this is a really great assignment for

you. I want you to become a catification
designer.

Catification.

is the art of designing for both human
and cat.

This technique that I use is based on
that. It's called the no -yes technique.

So for no, what we're going to do is
double -sided tape on the furniture, but

right next to it is going to be
something where there's the yes. So that

scratching post right here.

No, yes, right?

By the bed. No, yes.

The other problem we got, now these guys
are locked in the back. They don't get

to come up front here.

That's not a solution.

Open the doors so that they can just
stay out of each other's way. By giving

Kira the homework of becoming a
catification interior designer, I am

completely against her normal training,
which is, of course, very human -based.

She's got to learn what that compromise
looks like in a designerly way. It's

going to be tough on her, man, but there
is plenty of evidence out there that

catification can work for both parties.
I'm excited for you because I know that

when I come back here, you will be an
expert. I can feel it.

All right, I'm out. I'm not.

I'm in love with the notion of cat trees
out in my living room, but I'm going to

do the homework because it's really
important to me that my cats are happy.

Thank you. Bye.

Baby!

I'm here for my second visit with Baby.
The last time I was here, Baby was

holding the entire house hostage, or at
least the feline part of the house.

It's a bad situation all the way around,
but one with not very many answers. And

the answers is what I'm hoping to get
today.

How are things with you guys?

Good. Yeah?

Good. Yeah. Okay. So let's take a look
at your homework. And here we go.

We've just arrived at Valencia Vet where
we're going to see the doctor and ask

about his primate card.

So we got the blood test back from the
vet. Baby does not have a testosterone

issue. His testosterone was less than...

0 .1%. He is a neutered boy.

So we were trying to do our detective
work and rule out the fact that he might

have been cryptorchid, and that has been
ruled out.

Baby does not have testosterone.

That would have been a really handy
explanation for everything that's going

here, but the question remains, why is
baby acting out the way he is?

And now he's sitting up here, and this
is kind of a sign that we have that

like, looking for mischief.

So most of everything that we've seen
happens up there.

This spot where he is right now, this
place that I call the crow's nest, right

at the top of those stairs, covered.

Nobody gets anywhere without baby say
-so.

So this is a problem area.

Moving on.

This is kind of a normal day.

So baby's here. I know he's up to
something.

There's Mabel. There's Gingy. And
there's Grace.

There's Lily.

I just feel so bad for the other cats
because they're scared of Baby.

Do they hide all the time now where they
didn't before?

Yeah.

We got Baby sitting in this power
position the same as he was upstairs.

Cat Chess. Baby is calculating the moves
of his opponents, and he is thinking

three steps ahead.

Check. Check.

Checkmate. And all the rest of the cats
know this. They're walking as if

something's about to attack them. And
guess what? They're right.

There was just a situation, and he was
full -on mounting Ginger and biting her

neck. And she was just sitting there,
fine with it. It was really weird.

It's very easy to sexualize what's going
on between Ginger and Baby.

Really, it is about dominance and
submission.

Baby chases the other cats because he
gets that thrill of the hunt.

He mounts Ginger because he can, he
does, and he gets that satisfaction of

dominance, and Ginger takes it.

Baby just jumped at Grace, and she
hissed at him. He didn't lunge at her.

pounced like he wanted to play with her,
but she hissed right at him. I don't

think Grace is afraid.

Good, because Grace has the confidence
to say, okay, well, that just sucked,

I'm back.

a cat to pity, that she's got strength.

By hissing at baby, Grace shows the only
dose of confidence I've seen out of any

cats here.

So to me, that sets the stage for a
relationship that's not as scarring as

other cats.

Last time I was here, you said that if
Grace got it, then you would have to

start thinking about baby's future. Now
you've seen it.

Do you still have that line in the sand?

No, I don't think so.

Do you?

I mean, I don't know if I'm still as
worried. Maybe it's because Grace

fear him. She's not just a special needs
cat.

She's a cat who could probably stand up
for herself pretty well.

What was that? That's him trying to
break down a door.

They're all upstairs right now.

Wait, so everybody right now can get at
anybody right now? Yes. They're all out

right now. We just heard a hiss. Yeah.

Okay, John and Mary are telling me
there's a fight about to happen. I got

upstairs and see what it is because I
can't have baby hurting someone on my

watch anyway.

What is it that you're doing?

Problem here is...

They're all upstairs

right now.

What is it that you're doing?

Well, he's the only one up here.

Okay, so maybe that was just all him,
that sound.

So everybody else is in the bedroom.

He is wanting in the bedroom, but you're
hearing hisses and growls? No,

everybody else is downstairs. I'm sorry,
everybody's downstairs.

You just heard hissing and growling. You
assumed that that was baby torturing

everybody.

And everyone's down here.

John and Mary are assuming the worst
because they're used to Baby holding the

other cats hostage, and the cats are
hiding because Baby's behavior has

their confidence.

These are problems that need to be
addressed.

I think that what we have to start doing
is start guiding these guys to a better

life. Because Baby is part Napoleon cat
and part bully. He just is kind of

having fun. This is his way of doing it.
And Napoleon has an agenda.

Ownership. Overowning. A bully says,
wait a minute, that toy is really fun.

squeaks and it runs.

I'm on it. I've also noticed that the
attacks happen on the floor because

there's no place else for your cats to
go.

So the first piece of homework that I
have for you is to catify the place,

specifically things that are up.

will help, right?

Baby is overowning the floor, so let's
create another lane of highway and give

the other cats in this home a vertical
world where they can get away.

We also have to obliterate the crow's
nest, okay?

A traffic circle up at crow's nest, I
think, is the way to go.

Now, what I usually do is I'll take
something just like this. I call it a

diffusion post.

The diffusion post makes it so that when
animals are running at each other,

you're breaking up the momentum and
they're forced to go around almost like

revolving door. The bottom line is no
more power positions for a baby. It

no sense to give him that closeness, to
give him that spot under the chair in

the dining room or any other checkmate
position.

The next thing we're going to do is talk
about the concept of play therapy.

Use play to draw them out. I want to see
your scaredy cats attack something in

the middle of the floor because it's
confidence that they can't get any other

way. I had a chance to play with Grace
earlier in the day, and I got to see how

fearless this special needs cat really
is. She let me pet her and really got

into play.

Good girl.

That's my baby girl. What I need to do
is build up the confidence of the

in this house while draining the energy
out of the bully. The goal is to get

these guys to meet in the middle
somewhere. Then, hopefully, we have a

for a peaceful life together.

All right, guys. I will see you in just
a few weeks. Bye.

Bye.

So I'm here for my next visit with Kira
and her two cats, Daisy and Cooper.

The last time I was here, we were
dealing with a mess. We had furniture

shredded. We had Cooper, who's got the
beginnings of kidney disease, and he was

just not eating.

The cats were fighting, and Kira was so
stressed out beyond belief. This time

around, look, if Cooper is eating, we're
on the road to good things. How are

you? so much better yeah it's so
gratifying to see cooper eating it's

heartwarming really good yeah and
there's our girl daisy hello my baby

are you what i really want to do is
start going through your your video

i put sticky paws

On the part of the box spring that the
cats love to claw.

A consolation prize is a super cute cat
bed with a

scratcher. Nice. All on the side of it.

This is all for the love of cats.

So the catification homework I was given
by Jackson actually has been the most

challenging for me. I am so particular
about what's in my house.

Big, crazy cat climbing devices are just
not my cup of tea. But these are great,

and I want to do the best for my cat.

But I love that, though. I love that
you're up high.

The glory of catification is giving cats
the opportunity to own where they're

the most confident in the vertical
world. This is a cat who normally is

around, just quiet.

That's what we wanted to see.

First day on wet food.

Made into a stew.

There we go.

Look at that.

I'm just going to pause right there,
too. Both cats together, you're using

slow feeder bowl, which is great because
you see Daisy just sort of having to

work her food a little bit so that she
doesn't just go plowing through her food

and then go for his. And then he joins
the party, which I'm sure you felt

pretty good about, right? Yeah. Yeah.

That was awesome. That's a nice one. The
advice Jackson gave me has made a huge

difference. It is one of the most
gratifying things to see Cooper finish a

of food. He is looking better. His fur
looks better.

He's actually playing again. That's
cool. This is a huge win, not just for

but Cooper needs to eat for his long
-term health, and he's doing it. Now,

scratching -wise, how's it been going?

I have seen no new scratching.

I'm so happy. Have you been able to get
rid of the whole closing the doors and

keeping everybody out? Are you able to
open up the house a little bit more?

Since I saw you, I have kept all the
doors in the house open. Free to roam.

They're not on top of each other. And
Cooper and Daisy have been fighting a

less.

Fantastic. Here I had to take a leap of
faith by opening the doors so the cats

have an opportunity to own everything.

This gives the cats an equal sense of
ownership.

I mean, so far everything I'm hearing is
beautiful.

I desperately want to weigh him. I want
to make sure he hasn't lost more weight.

Where's your scale at?

I will grab it. Let's go find that.

In the meantime, I'm going to get on the
floor because I know he's right here.

And we'll get this done.

Hi, buddy boy.

Hi. Here we go. Here we go.

Now, if you could, I know he's down
there. You want to grab him, bring him

and then we'll stick him on here.

Now, just so I know, what was his last
known weight?

Eight pounds, four ounces.

Okay. So anything above eight pounds,
four ounces is a win.

Total win. All right, let's go.

It's okay, buddy. Come here, my love, my
love. Okay, I'm just going to put you

on here. There we go, buddy.

And...

Come here, my love, my love. Okay, I'm
just going to put you on here. There we

go, buddy. Just like that.

Nine pounds, two ounces.

He has gained about a pound since his
low weight.

That means everything's working.

This is so good.

Cooper is going to be living with his
kidney issues for the rest of his life.

You can't reverse that.

But you can live a much more vital,
healthy life with it. And Cooper is now

up to live that life. Once a week, put
him on that scale because we just want

stay current. In your cat?

But I'm psyched. My heart is this big
right now. To see the proof that Cooper

gaining weight, that he's regaining his
health as well as his confidence, man,

that feels good.

Before I leave you, I just want to make
sure that you're good, that you're okay.

I'm so good. I can't thank you enough.

The constant stress is gone.

Good. Well, that's good. And on that
note, I am going to leave you. Before

Jackson came, I was really panicked
about Cooper.

I was feeling hopeless, like I was going
to lose my cat. And now, getting a

handle on Cooper's kidney disease.

really changed everything.

I'm so much less stressed.

Daisy's behaving better. Cooper's
happier.

And I think it's only going to get
better.

I'm here at the Lake Bluff Public
Library in Illinois.

In Illinois, and I'm here to meet up
with Super Cat Volunteer Max and his

guardian, Kathy.

These guys are all over the place, and I
finally get to meet up with them.

Kathy?

Hi, how are you? Kathy, I'm great. Good
to meet you. Nice to meet you as well.

This looks like fun.

Yes. That's Max. That is Max. It's hard
to miss him. The big Maine Coon there

with one ear.

Hi, I'm Kathy Mardini and my cat Max is
part of the reading program at the Lake

West Library called Paws for a Tail.

The goal of this program is to encourage
kids to read and also encourage kids

that might struggle reading.

And the idea is just read to the animal.
Just read to the animal. Kids in grade

school or middle school can come and...

practice reading to the cats and dogs in
the program.

Some kids are phenomenal readers. Other
kids struggle a little more, and it

gives them that opportunity to sit down
and read with an animal who doesn't

care. They just like the fact that
they're hearing the human voice and

some attention that way. I think he can
help you with this book if you'd like to

read. You want to try?

The river ran all the way through the
Emerald Plain, and there was...

So much wildlife disease.

When kids first join the program,
they're struggling a little. And in

had a little boy a couple of years ago
that was reading to him and all of a

sudden became a phenomenal reader.

What's the story with Max's ear?

So Max was diagnosed with cancer. He had
a mast cell tumor behind his ear and

one underneath his nose.

So we took him in for treatment. He had
eight chemo treatments.

Max went through a pretty scary time. I
mean, he had cancer that was in his ear.

But what has happened on the other side
of that is that Max now looks a little

different from other cats. And he can
also send that message to kids, that

different might mean being special. I
mean, honestly, I'm just watching him.

hang out with these guys and he is so
absolutely amazing like you know you can

rub his tummy you can do all these
things that usually cats will let you

not to so it's a pretty he's an
incredibly mellow cat i can see exactly

is such a perfect candidate for a
program like this because he's so

and and so relatable the children feel
open about reading to him max embodies

what i call the mojito cat i would
imagine that you come in contact with a

of kids who are scared of cats Yes.

Max and the other animals in the program
are trained.

So kids that aren't used to animals or
are afraid of animals, it's really a

great opportunity for them to get some
one -on -one attention.

There are so many levels to what makes
this program important.

The first thing being that kids, to be
able to read out loud without any fear

judgment, essential to their social
development, and to feel like they can

without the fear of being bit or
scratched, is huge in any child's life.

It hasn't stopped amazing me.

How great he does here.

And you meet a lot of cats. I meet a lot
of cats. Kathy, it's great to meet you.

Great to meet you. Great to meet you,
buddy. Keep it up. Yeah, thank you very

much. I hope that when people watch this
story, they change their mind a little

bit about cats. That they realize, oh,
cats aren't all afraid, running away

kids, wanting to be by themselves,
independent, aloof.

That they crave.

Social situations, they crave attention,
they love children. And Max is that

wonderful ambassador for all cats. Yeah,
you want to pet him?

Baby!

I'm here for my third visit with John
and Mary, the cat Baby, and all the

cats that Baby previously terrorized.
And all I want to see is a catified

many lanes of traffic, and I'll be
happy. That's not asking that much, is

I'm very excited to come back here, man.

Oh, my God.

Wow.

I've seen a lot of catification in my
day, but this is what I'm talking about.

mean, I know that this is going to be
amazing for all the cats, for baby, but

for the other ones especially.

And it looks nice. Come on. This is
great.

Holy crow, you guys.

That makes me feel great. And it also
tells me that you guys are going in the

right direction. Let's take a look at
what we're doing here, video homework

-wise.

Yeah, baby.

Oh. Oh.

Wow. Good girl, Mae.

Wait, who was that down there? Was that
Baby? That was Baby. Oh, God, I love

these moments. We have Mabel.

Baby. And he's doing what used to be
checkmate.

He's blocking the stairs.

He's blocking her ability to get up and
down, but no longer. And that's what

gives her confidence. Moving on.

Look at that. This is the traffic
circle, the diffusion post in action. I

I'm going to go this way. Fine, I'll go
this way then. Ginger doesn't even

respond.

Two babies look.

She goes, no, I can just walk right by.
I can show you my tail as I go by. This

must have happened enough times that she
is confident that she's not going to

get tackled.

Moving on.

I've been playing with baby a lot before
feeding. I'm trying to channel Jackson.

I'm hoping I'm doing it correctly.

Uh -oh.

I'm trying to channel Jackson.

Uh -oh.

Everything can't be roses.

In terms of you channeling your Jackson,
you need to run around a little bit.

You need to get yourself moving a little
bit. Unless you tire the baby out, the

cat becomes an extension of a toy.
Because they're moving better than

moving. In this house more than any
other.

You have got to keep the stakes up
during playtime. John and Mary are

there. They just need to drain baby's
energy so he doesn't have the need to

and kill.

Hi.

How's it going?

We got our boy and our girl sitting out
and watch.

Lily just walks by him and him watching
but not chasing. So that's fantastic.

This was the crow's nest.

Not there anymore.

Exactly. What I was hoping for, the
other cats have increased confidence

play, and now they can get away from
Baby because of the catification.

They're not running, so Baby is not
chasing them. He's taken control in a

wonderful way.

I've learned we're not necessarily
changing Baby. It's the whole team

you know, including us.

and now we're paying attention to the
details of the situation as opposed to

just reacting and kind of looking at it
from a different perspective.

This has really been a life changer for
us. It's worked.

Bye. Take care. Thank you.